On The Beach

I generally try to make it a rule to not disparage something just for the sake of disparaging it [notable exception: John McCain’s presidential campaign]. But last week I watched a movie called On the Beach [made in 1959] and on the surface the description of the movie sounds intriguing. The film is set a few months after a nuclear apocalypse between the U.S. and the Soviet Union and follows the story of a nuclear submarine [captained by Gregory Peck] that survived the attack and is now stationed in Australia where the only surviving humans live. They don’t so much live as really wait for the radiation in the air to inevitably flow to them and have them die of radiation poisoning. And by the end, I was hoping for radiation poisoning to come for me too.

Besides Peck, this gem has Anthony Perkins [pre-Psycho days], Ava Gardner [post-The Killers and pre-The Night of the Iguana], and, would you believe it, a race-car driving Fred Astaire [post-"White Christmas"].



The plot isn't much more than sitting around waiting for the radiation to come...oh please, won't it come???

Counting Crows – Einstein on the Beach (For An Eggman)
From the Geffen Records rarities collection, DGC Rarities, Vol. 1.

The Walkabouts – On the Beach (Neil Young Cover)
From an Uncut Magazine sampler of Neil Young covers called Like a Hurricane: A Tribute to Neil Young.